Taste and Oral Sensory Processing in the Brain

大脑中的味觉和口腔感觉处理

• 批准号: 8604436
• 负责人: CHRISTIAN H LEMON
• 金额: $ 10.54万
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-03-01 至 2016-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/8604436
• 关键词: Taste; Oral; Sensory; Processing; Brain

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Taste critically guides ingestive decisions that impact nutritional status and can lead to health problems in humans, such as obesity, diabetes and coronary heart disease. Thus, understanding mechanisms for taste is critical for defining how sensory factors impact human health and well being. Taste experience typically occurs in unison with other oral sensations, such as texture and temperature (somatic sensations). Taste perceptions can be modified by oral temperature, indicating the mechanisms of taste and thermosensation are linked. Taste neurons in the brain stem respond to oral temperature and, thus, are suited to process integrated taste and thermal input. The long-term goal of the proposed research is to define mechanisms of multimodal oral sensory processing in the brain stem. Using anesthetized mice, electrophysiological recordings will be made from individual brain stem neurons sensitive to both taste and oral thermal inputs. Specific Aim #1 will test the hypothesis that oral temperature influences gustatory neural codes. Oral responses to cooled and warmed taste stimuli will be recorded and analyzed to define how temperature impacts neural representations of gustatory quality and intensity information. Specific Aim #2 will test the hypothesis that taste neurons show similar sensitivities to tastes and temperatures of similar hedonic valence. These projects will elucidate the ability of taste neurons to signal oral somatic information and have implications for the oral sensory system to be integrated and not a collection of discrete modalities. Analyses of neural responses to concentration series of hedonically different taste stimuli and innocuous and noxious oral temperatures will evaluate this idea. Specific Aim #3 will test the hypothesis that upon initiating oral sensation thermal input to taste neurons is transmitted before taste. Timed sequencing may underlie interactions between temperature and taste - fast, early thermal stimulation could prime taste networks for modulation of subsequent taste input. Response time course data for individual neurons and neural ensembles will be analyzed to evaluate if taste and thermal interactions depend on the sequencing of sensory input. Overall, these projects will shed light on multisensory neural processes potentially involved in aspects of flavor integration and ingestive decisions.

描述（由申请人提供）：味觉对影响营养状况的摄食决定起着关键性的指导作用，并可能导致人类的健康问题，如肥胖、糖尿病和冠心病。因此，了解味觉机制对于定义感官因素如何影响人类健康和福祉至关重要。味觉体验通常与其他口腔感觉，如质地和温度（躯体感觉）一致发生。口腔温度可以改变味觉，表明味觉和温度感觉的机制是相关的。脑干中的味觉神经元对口腔温度作出反应，因此适合于处理综合的味觉和热输入。这项研究的长期目标是确定脑干中多模式口腔感觉处理的机制。使用麻醉小鼠，将从对味觉和口腔热输入敏感的个体脑干神经元进行电生理记录。具体目标#1将检验口腔温度影响味觉神经代码的假设。将记录和分析对冷却和加热味觉刺激的口腔反应，以确定温度如何影响味觉质量和强度信息的神经表征。具体目标#2将检验这样一个假设，即味觉神经元对具有相似享乐价的味觉和温度表现出相似的敏感性。这些项目将阐明味觉神经元发出口腔躯体信息的能力，并对口腔感觉系统的整合而不是离散模式的集合产生影响。神经反应的浓度系列的享乐不同的味觉刺激和无害和有害的口腔温度的分析将评估这一想法。具体目标#3将检验以下假设：在启动口腔感觉时，对味觉神经元的热输入在味觉之前被传递。时间序列可能是温度和味觉之间相互作用的基础，早期的热刺激可以为随后的味觉输入的调制准备味觉网络。将分析单个神经元和神经系综的响应时间过程数据，以评估味觉和热相互作用是否取决于感官输入的顺序。总的来说，这些项目将揭示潜在参与风味整合和摄入决策方面的多感觉神经过程。